If I Were a Worship Pastor

Christ the Lord is Risen Today (a little more upbeat please)



See What a Morning - Stuart Townend (a little faster please)



Before the Throne of God Above (without the superfluous interlude please)



I've Just Seen Jesus - Larnelle Harris and Sandi Patty (for special music, of course)



Jesus is Alive - Ron Kenoly (such great memories...)


Happy Easter! And thanks to Sam and Jen for taking Nathan for Easter lunch.

Cruisin'

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Today I'm leaving this dreary island for sunnier ones. I am making the journey across oceans and these vast lands...


Newcastle to London to Chicago to Fort Lauderdale to Jamaica to Haiti to Grand Cayman to Fort Lauderdale to Destin to Fort Lauderdale to Chicago to London to Newcastle


The bad news is that I can't hang out with you in person - unless you're Heidi or Katy or Kristin - but the good news is that I have posts lined up for every day next week!


Happy Easter! Enjoy some bunny cake for me.

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Tebowing on Top of Hadrian's Wall and Other Cool Things

Justin and Julie just left for Ireland on part two of their vacation, and we already miss them! We had such a blast during their three days here. I'm a much better hostess when I don't have to work. Sorry Chris and Jan!

When they arrived, it was misting out. An hour later, it was snowing sideways. We ventured out to Tesco and had the sleet biting our faces the whole way. We decided to stay in and chill. Twelve hours later, it was still snowing sideways.

And this is all we had to show for it the next morning. Not really a representation of how awful the weather was, but I guess that's all that stuck because we had sunshine and 60s weather all last week.

The next day we drove to a part of Hadrian's wall that we hadn't been to yet, and there was definitely more snow there. It was quite windy as well, but it made for crystal clear views across the English countryside. Enjoy the pictures that don't do them justice!

Walking toward the wall

Getting warm over Nathan's tea mug

Julie and Justin, former neighbors and church friends

A common pose

At the gate to get on the wall

On the wall

We all made it!

Tebowing on Hadrian's Wall

I thought I'd be blown off the top of the wall. It was so windy!

Julie tried to take a picture, but I accidentally left it on "video." Enjoy the outtake.

Ah. Here is the picture.

An artsy picture of the wall by Nathan

Woohoo!

More posts of our time together coming up...

My Sister on American Idol

Look at this picture! She might as well be the fourth judge. She's all like, "Gimme that scarf covered microphone, Steven. I got somethin' to say... or sing. Lemme get these pipes goin'."

I am not at all surprised that my celebrity obsessed sister got to sit directly behind the judges on this week's American Idol. It was her birthday after all. We debriefed about it on Skype, and she told me about every last detail. It was awesome. She said everyone looked exactly like they do on TV. :) 

After the show, she shouted out that she loved Randy. He turned around to her and said - as you can probably guess - "Yo! Yo! Yo!" They shook hands, and she said, "Yo, you could use some lotion, Dog."

JK. But she thought it.

Happy birthday Kristen/Sistor/Twine/Josie!

She Keeps Amazing Me

Please go here and enjoy the pictures of Winnie and June taken by the fabulous Lorie.

12 Miles

I sometimes forget that we're only 12 miles from the North Sea, but every once in a while I'll hear a seagull and be reminded. This week the weather has been awesome, and on Tuesday last week Nathan surprised me by picking me up from school at 5:00 and taking me for a walk in Easington Colliery. We went there with my mom and dad when they came to visit last year.

Yes, that's the sun!

Sorry girls, he's taken.

More love!

Great scenery

What a view!

A lone daffodil in the grass

We found this flat little soccer ball on our walk and took turns kicking it for almost two miles. It takes very little to entertain us.

Have any of you gone on any fun spring time outings?

Hoppy Easter

Last weekend I had an Easter party for my international students, complete with a bunny cake like my mom used to make.

What do you think, Mumers?

Devilled eggs... They don't really eat these in England, and my Chinese students wouldn't touch them. I saw a trick on Pinterest where you could "boil" many eggs at once by baking them in a muffin tin at 350 F for 30 minutes. I boiled half of them the traditional way and did the new method with the other half. It didn't really work. I'll stick with regular boiling next time.

I made this extra cake because I was worried that there wouldn't be enough. I had nothing to worry about. The Chinese kids just picked off the Skittles and sour straws (a.k.a. strawberry laces) and didn't eat the cake. I think next time I'll just set out bowls of candy.

Here's my beautiful set up, complete with hot cross buns, an English Easter tradition.

Yum! I wish you were there to enjoy the Easter party with me, because I had tons of food leftover. We had an Easter egg hunt outside afterwards, and we had great weather. In fact, we've had fantastic weather for about a week! Praise the Lord!

Missing everyone...